You ARE ABLe

Support Chris To Walk Again!

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Doctors say that I most likely fainted after going to the bathroom and fell in a way that I injured my spinal cord resulting in quadriplegia and using a power wheelchair. Doctors and therapists also said I would never walk again. I accepted this and moved on with my life paralyzed from the chest down and having limited movement of my arms. Recently I have been inspired and empowered to believe in possibility for my body to walk again. It’s time for me to stop waiting and accepting, and start moving to take a step forward and walk again. My goal is to raise $250,000 for rehabilitation expenses that are not covered by insurance.

Please donate $10 a month by clicking on the button below and share this with your friends.

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Continue reading for a more detailed information on my story and journey to walk again.

25 years ago, I suddenly lost my ability to walk.

The night it happened, it was supposed to be a celebration, the ROTC Military Ball, a right of passage honoring my classmates and I to become a second lieutenant in the Army after graduating college at the end of the year. I had been looking forward to it for months.

But all of a sudden, I woke up on the bathroom floor. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t yell for help. My body was limp.

I can’t remember much after that. I don’t remember being wheeled into the emergency room or receiving surgery. The hospital gave me so many drugs to keep me sedated, I didn’t know the difference between night and day.

But after the next few days in recovery, I regained my consciousness.

In my mind, I thought this was a temporary setback and that I’d be leaving the hospital after a week or two.

I was excited.

I thought I’d walk out of the hospital on my own two feet, like I had always walked my whole life and jump back into my normal routine.

But then the reality of what doctor said hit me:

“You’ll never be able to walk again.”

Someone gave me the hope and belief to move forward.

I didn’t believe it at first. I thought, “Why me?”

“How could this happen? I was just celebrating my graduation.”

My mom said she wanted to take my place so I didn’t have to suffer. She said I had so much potential in my life ahead of me.

In my moment of despair, she reminded of what she had always told me since I was six years old, and that was…

You Are Able

Hi, my name is Chris Finn.

Ever since I suffered a spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegia, being paralyzed from the neck down and using a power wheelchair, this one little phrase, You Are Able, has made a massive impact in my life.

It’s helped me...

• Have hope to live my life again

• Believe in myself no matter what challenges come my way

• Summon the confidence I need whenever I want and need it

• Realize nothing is impossible

• Eliminate excuses

...And achieve success beyond my expectations…

As a child my mother told me "You are able to do anything you want in life." My dream was to be the next soccer superstar and win a World Cup for my country.

Those dreams vanished after suffering my spinal cord injury.

But that was not the end, because dreams still come true in ways that you would never think are possible.

Fifteen years later I coached the US National Power Wheelchair Soccer Team to win the first ever World Cup.

And then we won again, four years later.

I have a dream

I have a dream that one day I will have a fully functioning body to walk again.

There isn't a one-size-fits-all cure that I know of right now. What I do know is that it will be important for me to activate my mind, body and spirit with the support of others.

In order to do that I have to first embody the You Are Able message more than ever. Second, I need to help others do the same. The way I want to do that is share my journey and the message with others to inspire, motivate and encourage more people in a bigger way.

It is time to dream bigger, bolder, and defy conventional wisdom. It is time to stop struggling in isolation. It is time to hope, believe and take action to achieve our goals and dreams together.

Life is full of obstacles.

Have you ever had a setback or obstacle in your life that seemed to big to overcome?

Are you someone who…

• has self-doubt and feel you’re not good enough to live an amazing life

• lacks confidence and courage to go after what you want

• is overwhelmed with fear but not sure how to stop it

• feels burdened by lack of time, money, poor health and responsibility

• needs more motivation and inspiration to achieve your dream?

And you’re ready for a change?

Your biggest challenge can become your opportunity to accomplish your dream in life. Like it did for me.

I have to be real with you. You never know what’s going to happen to you next.

You have goals but say to yourself, “I’ll do it tomorrow, next month, or next year.”

Or you don’t have enough time, money, you have too much responsibility, you feel you are not smart enough, good enough, pretty enough or worthy enough…

But things can change in an instant. And you might not like what happens.

It’s time to go after your wants and desires now, because you might be one step away from losing them.

That’s why I’m here to tell you that You Are Able.

Imagine what it would be like if you...

• could travel the world

• get your dream job

• achieve awards that seem impossible to reach

• knew that you could overcome any challenge, physical or mental, that comes your way.

I know it is possible because I did all of these things AFTER I was unable to walk.

Let’s support each other to overcome our challenges.

Imagine the possibilities if we can all take our first steps to achieve our goals and dreams together!

What’s your goal or dream? Do you want to:

• Make more money

• Have more time for your family and friends

• Take your dream vacation

• Raise your kids to be great citizens

• Finally start up your hobby

• Develop a new business

Do you know the #1 thing that stops you from reaching them?

Studies show that it’s YOU.

Yep, just you.

We stop ourselves from pursuing a goal or dream because obstacles get in our way or someone tells us we can’t like the doctors and therapists have been telling me years to this day. (Or maybe this instead:

People have lost hope that they can live a better life. People have stopped believing in themselves and others. People have stopped taking action to achieve their dreams because they are told they can’t.)

That’s why getting support from someone, or even better a group of people, who has overcome impossible challenges is so important to your success.

After my injury, I couldn’t move, feed myself, or breathe on my own.

The key to my success was getting systems, accountability, and support and encouragement from others.

Imagine a world of people helping people instead of being isolating, divisive or bullying and tearing each other down.

This is the world I want to live in.

But I need your help to create it.

Together we can change our lives, change the world, and change our beliefs that we are not in this alone but we are in this together.

How can you help?

My goal is to raise at least $250,000 over the next two years for alternative rehab expenses to walk again…

You can help by donating $10 a month by clicking the donate button below.

Why am I asking for only $10 a month? I thought to myself, we all have 10 fingers, 10 toes, and my soccer idol is Pelé and he wore the number 10. But that’s really not too convincing. So I looked up what someone could buy for $10 a month. You could buy two big mocha lattes a month from your favorite coffee shop. Some of you might even do that every day. If you have a car that is a gas guzzler, $10 will buy you a couple of days of gas to go to work and back, and run a few errands. And if you have a sweet tooth $10 will buy you 954 tootsie rolls.

So instead of spending your $10 in those ways, you could start weaning yourself off of caffeine to create a healthier body, ask your boss to telecommute and work from home saving the environment from more exhaust in the air and have more time with your family at home, and have healthier teeth, a great smile and save money in the long run by not getting any cavities when you donate instead of buying tootsie rolls. Most of us would probably give $10 a month just to avoid not having to go to the dentist! Wouldn’t you? By donating $10 a month you would not only be helping me you would be helping yourself.

Where does your money go?

Your donation is made to Help Hope Live which is a nonprofit organization making your contribution tax-deductible. Help Hope Live will collect and hold the money for me so that it is not considered income, allowing me to keep my health, medical, and government benefits. The nonprofit follows a strict set of guidelines to help pay for my rehab expenses directly or reimburse me for the costs that are approved. That way you can be assured I’m just not traveling the world and partying at a new beach house with your money.

What will your donation help to pay for?

Examples of rehabilitation expenses:

• SCI fit (a gym that specializes in private rehab for people with spinal injuries): Two sessions a week of physical therapy and using the Lokalmat walking machine. A monthly total: $2000. Which equates to $24,000 a year and will increase (double or triple) due to more frequent visits in the future.

• Working with a specialized nutritionist: $3000 a year

• Supplements: average monthly cost of nutritional supplements is $200 a month or $2400 a year

• Working with a (former) quadriplegic who is walking again: $5000 every six months

• Anat Binet technique: to work on restoring neural plasticity and function $3000 every 10 sessions which would equate to at minimum $12,000 a year

• Chi gong work with a master to learn how to move my chi or inner energy to promote healing: $5000 a year

• Standing wheelchair: will be asking regular insurance to pay for the wheelchair, but oftentimes they don’t pay for the standing option. $10,000-$15,000

• Home exercise machine: $10,000

• Chiropractic work: medical insurance pays for some of the care, $1000 a year

• Personal trainer at home: $10,000-$15,000 a year

• Extra attendant care for rehab: $10,000 a year

It's time to take action now.

It is time to go after my new dream to have a fully functioning body to walk again, and share my journey and the message of You Are Able to inspire, motivate and empower YOU to have the confidence, courage and capacity to fully engage in your life with joy and collaboration…

And to achieve your dreams.

You can defy any challenge when embracing the struggle and the journey...if you have hope, believe, and take action to achieve.

We all face obstacles in life, some bigger than others.

The challenges may be mental, physical, emotional and even come from outside situations we cannot control.

It is time to give people hope when they feel all hope is lost.

It is time to help people believe, not only in themselves but in each other, our fellow human beings.

And it is time to take action to achieve our goals and dreams knowing that the road may be rough but the journey will produce life-changing results.

Is walking going to be easy? No. Will be worth it? Yes.

To share my journey with you I will be starting a new Facebook page. There you will be able to get weekly updates from me, be able to interact with each other, share your “you are able” story, hear other people’s stories and talk about how we can develop a movement together around the message.

When you donate to help me walk again and spread the You Are Able message, you will be taking a stand for me, yourself, your family, your neighbors and community and the world by saying WE are able to get out of our own way and overcome our own paralysis to get the results we want.

It all starts with you. You are able to hope, believe, achieve your dreams and now is the time to take action.

Please donate $10 a month now by clicking on the button below.

Other ways to help:

Share this website with your friends, family, network and social media to join the campaign.

Contribute airline miles or hotel points for the times Chris may need to travel for rehab. Contact Chris directly.

Host a fundraiser to support Chris. Contact Help Hope Live for assistance.

To contribute to the Help Hope Live off-line, please write a check to:

Thank you in advance for your support!

Chris Finn

PS: Join the Facebook page to follow my progress, and interact with me and others with words of encouragement here: